


Gealousy

by bonn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-21 16:41:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9557537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonn/pseuds/bonn
Summary: “You’re staring,” Marlene sings, and Lily quickly averts her gaze from the table three to her left to the ceiling.“Staring at what?” she asks, feigning innocence. Marlene doesn’t buy it for a second, and rightly so. Lilywasstaring, and the curious look on James Potter’s face says that he knows. “Okay, shut up,” she hisses, ducking her head to stare at her Transfiguration homework. “Maybe I was staring, but it’s not like that.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> for jily secret santa in 2015
> 
> xoxo gossip bonn

It’s an unpleasant and not entirely unfamiliar sensation that hits Lily Evans first. It’s Marlene McKinnon’s Potions essay that hits her second.

“ _Ow_ ,” she hisses, swatting the roll of parchment away.

“You’re staring,” Marlene sings, and Lily quickly averts her gaze from the table three to her left to the ceiling.

“Staring at what?” she asks, feigning innocence. Marlene doesn’t buy it for a second, and rightly so. Lily _was_ staring, and the curious look on James Potter’s face says that he knows. “Okay, shut up,” she hisses, ducking her head to stare at her Transfiguration homework. “Maybe I was staring, but it’s not like that.”

“Not like what?” Mary asks sweetly.

“I hate you both.”

“Are you coming to dinner?” Marlene asks, checking her watch.

“Nah,” Lily sighs, gesturing down at her pile of parchment, “I have way too much homework, _and_ I still have to finish the patrol roster. I’ll swing by the kitchens when I finish, I promise.”

“Alright,” Mary agrees, though not quite happily. The pair of them are long gone when Lily looks up from her paragraph on the dangers of large scale human transfiguration. The whole tabled section of the library is empty, and Lily allows herself a moment to relive the awful feeling she felt when she saw James whispering in Tilly Guthrie’s ear, when she saw her hand on his thigh. It’s the third time she’s reacted like this to seeing them together, had this… _jealousy_ plant itself in her stomach.

_Oh god_ , she thinks, watching ink pool where the nib of her quill is pressed, unmoving, to her parchment, _I fancy James Potter_. She drops the quill like she’s been burnt, and starts violently when she sees who’s leaning over her shoulder, reading what she’s written.

“Not the angle I would have chosen, but it works,” James says, slipping into the chair next to her.

“Shouldn’t you be at dinner?” Lily asks, a little too harshly.

“Shouldn’t you?” he shoots back. “Marlene said you were working on the patrol roster, which is technically my job too, so I came to help.”

“I have it covered,” Lily snaps, gathering her various belongings as quickly as she can, knocking over her ink bottle in the process. Her heart is pounding, and it’s too damn hot in here. “Look, I’m not trying to be funny but can you just fuck off, thanks?” she hisses, as James rights the bottle, and vanishes the mess with a lazy flick of his wand.

“Are you alright?” he asks quietly, placing his hand on her forearm gently, trying to calm her down. “You’re looking a bit peaky.”

“I’m fine,” she insists, piling her rolls of parchment into the crook of her elbow, and swinging her book bag over her shoulder. “Just leave me alone.” And she pushes past him, completely forgetting her promise to go via the kitchens as she makes her way back to Gryffindor Tower.

*

“Does he have to flaunt her all over the place like that?” Lily groans, letting her head flop down onto her folded arms. Sirius exchanges a curious glance with Remus over her back, and the latter shrugs. “I don’t trust her,” she says, and it’s muffled by her sleeve.

“And that has nothing to do with your enormous crush on Prongs?” Sirius asks casually.

Lily’s head whips up, an expression of horror plastered to her face. “What? I don’t have a crush on him. Where’d you…” she trails off, resigned to the knowing look he gives her. “Fine. I might fancy him _a bit_.”

“More than a bit,” Remus says under his breath, and ducks to avoid Lily’s Charms textbook as she swings it at his head. James’ right hand is clasped in Tilly’s left as he takes notes, three rows ahead of them, and the trio watches them with varying degrees of bitterness.

“We can get rid of her, if you want,” Sirius offers, and it’s his turn to duck as Remus reaches over to slap him. “I don’t trust her either! I _know_ she’s just in it for the Sleekeazy’s.”

“What?” Lily asks, laughing. “Why would…”

“James’ dad invented it,” Remus sighs, checking his notes against the blackboard. “His mum sends him some every month, so he palms it off on anyone who’ll take it.”

Suddenly the bottle of Sleekeazy’s Lily got for Christmas last year makes a whole lot more sense.

“I used to take it all, but his mum caught wind and now she sends me my own supply,” Sirius shrugs.

Lily laughs, but her eyes are trained on the pair three rows ahead. _Oh god_ , she thinks again, _I am so done for_.

*

Lily Evans has been jealous approximately three times in her life. First, when Petunia started secondary school, then when Mary got that really cool Creedence Clearwater Revival t-shirt from her brother, and finally, now.

The first two had been fleeting, lasting barely a day, but this is constant. Jealousy is a terrible thing to live with, Lily discovers, as she becomes increasingly intolerant to what Peter has dubbed JTPDAs, to the point she can’t even stand them holding hands. She avoids James where she can, but it’s difficult when they’re required to spend time together. Lily briefly considers giving up her Head position, but she worked too damn hard for this, and she won’t let some stupid crush ruin what she’s achieved.

“Hey,” he says, sitting down next to her. Predictably, she jumps about a mile, and immediately begins thinking up excuses to leave. “Can we talk?”

Lily closes her eyes, and clenches her fists, and nods, once.

“You’ve been acting really weird lately, and I’m concerned. We’re mates now, yeah?” Another nod. “Except whenever we hang out it’s like it was before. So I guess I just want to know what it is I’ve done to change your mind back.”

Lily blinks once, twice, stupidly. “What?”

“Well, I figured I’d done something to upset you, and Remus told me to just buck up and ask you what it was instead of trying to work it out by myself and inevitably getting it completely wrong.”

“He’s smart, our Remus,” Lily says sagely, internally planning the boy’s assassination.

“So?” James prompts, his hand twitching on the table next to hers.

“It’s not you. Well, not really. I just found something out recently, and it’s come at a really inconvenient time.”

“You’re not…” he trails off, giving her an uncertain look.

“Nah, nothing like that. Really, it’s nothing. I’m being stupid.”

“Not to be a total cliché, but you can tell me anything, you know that, right?” His face is entirely too close to hers, and her cheeks feel like they’re probably hot enough to boil water.

“I don’t like Tilly,” she says finally. A half truth is better than a lie, she reasons.

“Neither does Sirius,” James frowns, his hand twitching again. “Good thing we broke up, then.”

“Come again?” Lily asks faintly, looking up at him.

“Tilly dumped me,” he says, but he’s grinning. “Want to know why?”

“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”

James smiles, like he’s got a private joke he’s not going to share. He flips his hand over, so his palm is facing the ceiling. “She said I payed more attention to you than I did to her.”

“Really?” Lily asks, chewing on her bottom lip, and staring down at her Ancient Runes homework.

“And she’s right, but you want to know what the funniest thing is?”

“What?”

“If you pay a lot of attention to someone, it becomes pretty obvious when they’re paying a lot of attention to you, too. And I could swear that _you_ , Lily Evans, have been paying me quite a bit of attention.”

Lily narrows her eyes. “Sirius told you, didn’t he?”

“Boy can’t keep a secret to save his life,” James agrees. He grins, and he’s so damn beautiful, and for the first time, Lily isn’t frustrated about it. He twitches his fingers once more, and she takes his hand, and grins back, and she’s beautiful too.

It makes sense for them to be beautiful together.


	2. Extras

**1.**

The four of them - that is to say, Lily, Remus, Sirius and Peter - have never spent as much time together as they do during James and Tilly’s brief relationship. They’re sat at the very end of Gryffindor table, observing the couple with disgust.

“Do they have to do that?” Remus asks, putting down his fork and pushing his plate of bacon and eggs away. They’ve just begun snogging with the grace of third years, and Sirius, Peter and Lily are quick to follow Remus’ lead.

“We need a better name than _that_ ,” Lily muses. “If we’re complaining about _that_ , we could be complaining about anything.”

“JTPDAs?” Peter asks, scratching his jaw. “It stands for James and Tilly’s Public Displays of Affection, but it could also have a double meaning, like… I dunno, Genuinely Terrifying PDAs?”

Lily blinks a few times. Remus cocks his head. Sirius narrows his eyes, and, “Peter…”

“What?”

“Genuinely doesn’t start with a J.”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Peter whispers, but it’s too late.

**2.**

“It’s Christmaaaaaaas,” Peter sings, jumping up onto James’ bed. This, effectively, wakes up the whole tower, and within a few minutes, Lily has made her way sleepily into their room, and the five of them are all gathered on the floor between Sirius and Remus’ beds. Lily reaches for the pile of presents, but she’s halted by an indignant noise from Peter.

“Please?” she tries.

“We have to sing Christmas carols before we open any presents,” James explains, rolling his eyes.

“It’s a _tradition_ ,” Peter hisses.

“Why don’t you start us off, then, Pete,” Remus suggests with a yawn. “How about Jood King Wenceslas, that’s my favourite.”

“I’m partial to Ginjle Bells,” Sirius argues, and Remus chuckles as he leans back against his bed. Lily hi fives both of them, and James takes on an expression of both anger and confusion.

“ _Guys_ ,” he whines, but he’s ignored by all.

“I’m going to smother you in your sleep,” Peter says darkly.

**3.1.**

Silence falls over the room as Sirius stands, a handsome figure in black, with a flute of champagne raised in toast. “Hello everyone, I’m Sirius, and I’m the Best Man, so I think a Best Man speech is in order. I’ve known Lily and Games for… I’m terribly sorry, everyone, I got Peter to proof read this, it should be Lily and _James_.”

Peter hides his face in his hands, but attention is drawn to his anyway, with Remus’ rather loud snort. “I hate you all,” he whispers.

**3.2.**

James is dancing with his mother, and Lily is dancing with Remus, and Sirius and Peter are seated as close to the bar as they can be.

Peter sighs, watching Remus twirl Lily around, her wedding gown billowing out around her. She looks so happy, surrounded by friends and able to forget, just for now, about the war. “Lily looks stunning, don’t you think?”

Sirius keeps a straight face for approximately three seconds, and Peter groans in anticipation. “Yeah, she looks absolutely jorgeous.”

“Fuck _off_ you _wanker_ , Padfoot.”

**3.3.**

Sirius and Peter have never had such a perfect opportunity to show off their entire choreographed dance routine to _Money Money Money_ as they do at the reception of Lily and James’ wedding. They pull it off flawlessly, and the crowd hollers and hoots as they finish, chests heaving and hair slicked back with sweat, though none so loud as Lily and Remus.

“That was jreat!” Remus whoops, applauding so hard his hands hurt.

“Jlorious, boys!” Lily agrees, just as furious in her clapping.

No one can really blame Peter for what he does next.


End file.
